China's Cinda scraps $944 mln investment into Ant's consumer finance unit

China Cinda Asset Management

13/01/2022 15:19

Jan 13 (Reuters) - China Cinda Asset Management  1359.HK 
said on Thursday it plans to scrap an agreement to buy a 20%
stake in the consumer finance arm of Ant Group, worth 6 billion
yuan ($943.83 million).
    The investment would have increased Cinda's interest in
Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co Ltd to 24%, making the asset
manager its second-biggest investor. Cinda already owns a 4%
stake in the Ant unit through a subsidiary.
    "After further prudent commercial consideration and
negotiation with (Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance), the company
proposed not to participate in the share subscription," Cinda
said in a filing to the stock exchange. 
    Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance is under regulatory pressure
to fold Ant's two lucrative micro-loan businesses Jiebei and
Huabei into it, which would make it subject to rules and capital
requirements similar to those for banks.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2T90B3 
    Cinda, one of the country's four biggest state asset
managers, said the withdrawal would not have any material impact
on the company.
    

($1 = 6.3571 Chinese yuan)

 (Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya
Soni)
 ((Harish.Sridharan@thomsonreuters.com;))